Mushroom Bouquet

We took our dogs for a long walk on the forest trails by our house. The fall colors are not out yet so we were still walking in filtered green light. The colors and textures I saw were the whites, reds, and yellows of mushrooms, everywhere. On the ground and on fallen trees.

I know the button, portobello, and shitake mushrooms I get at the grocery store. Then I was introduced to morel mushrooms that I can pick around our house. The multiple colors, sizes, and shapes of the mushrooms I saw on our forest walk would make a beautiful bouquet. I left the mushrooms to do their job of breaking down forest material and enhancing the soil. The mushrooms also gave this novice photographer beautiful subjects to try and photograph in low light.

Mushrooms are a sign of a healthy ecosystem. I read somewhere that a tablespoon of healthy soil has more living things than there are stars in the sky. That may be a poetic construct, or not, but the point is that healthy soil is alive and needs to be taken care of just as we take care of our garden plants. A native forest naturally keeps its soil healthy through fallen leaves, protection from runoff via the forest canopy, and the fungi that help clean and create soil.

I add compost to the soil every year. Last fall I added aged horse manure and stall shavings to the garden beds. This spring and summer when I planted and weeded I disturbed worms, which were not in the garden beds when I first moved here. I even had a few mushrooms breaking down the stall shavings. The soil is starting to become alive. And healthy soil full of organic material is good for plants and the wider ecosystem.

It is starting to cool off during the days and nights. I still have coneflowers, black-eyed susans, goldenrod, yellow roses and native sunflowers blooming. Needless to say, lots of yellow in the garden. I will plant asters among the goldernrod in the spring for that beautiful blue and yellow combination. The tomatoes are done so I need to empty and store their pots. I have a geranium I will try and overwinter inside. I still have a few weeks to get the last weeding done, amend the soil, and plant bulbs. And I will be taking walks in the forest to see how this ecosystem moves from summer into autumn. And to search for fungi.